


Saplings

by rudbeckia



Series: Princess [3]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: F/F, Spoilers for Leia Princess of Alderaan
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-24
Updated: 2018-02-24
Packaged: 2019-03-23 08:12:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,156
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13783395
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rudbeckia/pseuds/rudbeckia
Summary: Amilyn informs Leia of the fate of Arreyel, the planet she championed as a location for a new Imperial Academy.  Chassellon Stevis and a few other friends in the apprentice legislature plan a night out to help them to forget their part in it, but Leia’s guilt burns deep and not even her fellow delegate from Alderaan, Kier Domadi, can bring her out of it. Amilyn offers to stay behind. Can Amilyn help Leia to come to terms with the tragedy?





	Saplings

It hurt. It stung so badly that she barely held back tears, and then only because Kier Domadi and Chassellon Stevis wouldn’t have understood. As soon as she spotted Leia walking towards them across the antechamber of the apprentice legislature, Amilyn rushed over and took her hands to break the news that Arreyel’s entire population, living in poverty already, was to evacuate within six weeks and find new homes, make new lives on other planets all at their own personal expense. Not one person would be tolerated to remain. When Leia’s face showed the shock of understanding of how they had all been played, how they had been manoeuvred into choosing Arreyel so that the Empire would have an excuse to go there, Amilyn’s heart might have broken and the tears spilled but for Domadi’s interruption. Domadi’s hand cupped Leia’s elbow and Leia turned to him instead, anger building at how easily she had been duped.

It was not their fault. It was not Leia’s fault. But for her part in it, shame burned just the same in Amilyn’s heart.

The rest of the day was spent quietly. There was no late session of debate to trick them again into making decisions that would burden them with the guilt of having been part of a corrupt process. Kier Domadi followed Leia out and Amilyn retreated to her dorm. Before long, a sharp knock at her door pulled Amilyn out of her contemplation of the streamers of steel-blue smoke that rose in lines from her incense then broke and twisted into whorls before disappearing, spiralling into the air circulation unit on the ceiling.

“The atmosphere of my home world can be a little rich for some tastes,” she called through the door in case it was the caretaker come to fix the ‘fault’ that made her dorm room so smoky. An easy laugh replied.  
“Hey Holdo, it’s me, Stevis. Are you coming out tonight?”  
Amilyn tightened her lips, frowned for a few seconds then put on a smile and opened the door. “Even the darkest day must have some sunlight,” she said, “we’ll find it if we look for it.”  
“Yeah, whatever.” Chassellon Stevis rolled his eyes and, by his side, Harp Allor raised her eyebrows.  
“We decided to call on you then on the princess,” she said. “The others are coming out too. Chassellon’s a local so he knows all the best nightlife, don’t you?”  
Stevis puffed up at the slight praise. Amilyn thought of Harp abandoned in a snowdrift, pulled on her shoes—the metallic green boots that matched the pompoms in her hair—and said, “properly nurtured, one seed of forgiveness may grow into a vine.”

Leia was less easily convinced that there was light to be found before tomorrow. Amilyn watched Leia’s eyes as she smiled only with her mouth and thanked her friends for their invitation. Kier brightened up at the prospect of a little nightlife, but he held his grin in check.  
“Ah, perhaps another night?” said Keir, glancing at Leia.  
Leia frowned and shook her head. “You go,” she said, finding a genuine smile this time. “Blow off steam. I’ll be all right.”  
Amilyn clasped her own hands together to prevent herself from reaching out to clasp Leia’s. “Silence and solitude brings solace when they’re a choice. If—“  
“Thank you!” Amilyn felt like her face would split with her happy grin when Leia offered her a hand and shook her head at the others. “I don’t feel like going out tonight. I’d be poor company. But thank you all very much for the offer.”  
“We can be silent and alone together!” said Amilyn in her dreamy monotone as Leia closed the door behind Kier and the others.  
“We can,” said Leia. “Or we could talk. Kier means well but...”  
Neither of the girls felt the need to finish that sentence.

Amilyn followed Leia through the apartment and into Leia’s room where she had stayed over once before. Leia looked troubled.  
“I know objectively that there were sixty members of the apprentice legislature arguing in that chamber but I was the one who insisted we consider Arreyel. They had all overlooked it completely. If I had thought—“  
“Ah, the rose-tinted retrospectroscope makes it look like the sun burned off the mist before dawn.” A long breath hissed through white teeth. “Time brings growth from a green-stemmed sapling into—”  
Leia looked up sharply at Amilyn. “Are you saying I’m not to blame just because I’m... I’m _too young?”_  
Amilyn frowned. She dropped her hypnotic monotone. “Isn’t it obvious? If you’d only known what the outcome would have been! If only you’d known then what you know now! If only you’d been less naive and seen through their trickery!” Amilyn threw up her hands and shook her head so that the metallic pompoms threw glints here and there. “Even my studies in comparative astrology could not have predicted the extent of the Empire’s exploitation of minds open and ready to believe the best of our political process. You feel guilt but the blame lies with the—“ She stopped and took a deep breath. The dreamy voice returned. “Fault warms its feet by someone else’s hearth and even the most majestic tree starts as a sapling struggling to reach sunlight above the canopy. Those with rapid growth and strong support grow the tallest.”

Leia thought she was too wretched even to be shaken by Amilyn’s outburst. It was bad enough being reminded by her parents’ secrets that she was too immature for any of this, but to be reminded of it by a peer stung her more sharply than the dull ache she felt at the potential loss of even more of her parents’ regard for her as an adult. Amilyn took her hand and the rest of her friend’s words filtered their meaning to her brain. Leia sighed deeply and closed her eyes, willing them to stay dry.  
“You’re right. I should learn from this. I will not let them fool me that way again.”  
After a minute of calm, Amilyn slipped her arms around Leia’s shoulders and hugged her.

Leia leaned into the embrace and wrapped her arms loosely around Amilyn’s waist.  
“I’m sorry. Thanks for staying with me but I just want to go to bed.”  
“Hmm,” said Amilyn, “it’s said that dreams reflect the last thoughts and feelings before sleep.”  
“Ugh! There are so many things in my thoughts that I do not want to dream about,” said Leia, head resting on Amilyn’s shoulder. “Can we talk about something else?”  
“Sure!” said Amilyn with a bright smile. “What did you have in mind?”  
“I was wondering,” replied Leia, hand reaching up to touch one of the metallic decorations that littered Amilyn’s braids, “if it all matches today.”  
Amilyn’s face settled into a warm smile. She leaned down and kissed Leia’s lips once. “If you like,” she said, “I’ll show you.”


End file.
